WHERE DID THE FORWARDS GO?

I have realized one thing in my adventure in writing. People love to read personal stories. People love a personal touch and absolutely abhor 'forwards'. Remember the era of forwards? Where have all those forwards gone to? I hardly receive any forwards on my mails these days...I do not know about you. That to me is a sign of something that has happened. Either my abhorrence of them forwards has sent a hint to my 'friends' who love them and they got the hint, or..well, we just grew up.

As usual, our talk is on none other than Life Signatures. You see, I have been taking a stock of this blog from the very first time I posted. I have realized one thing. IT IS OK TO COPY! Now, I am not writing from the peak of the mountain of success. I am not looking down from above to everyone who is attempting to scroll up that mountain. Rather, I am writing as a fellow traveller, a fellow pursuant of Purpose. I am writing as one who is part and parcel of the journey of Life Signatures.

Let me be honest with you. I HATED copying!! Period. I hated it when people sit on their laurels and wait for an Idea to copy and paste. I have however come to learn that in Life Signatures, that hatred can be misplaced. I mean it! You see, few days ago, I was part of a CEO's breakfast organized by Inspire Africa, a function where the chief guest was non other than Uganda's First Lady. (I am the CEO Life Signatures, thank you very much!) What you might not know is the total abhorrence I had for this TV Show. I kid you not! Why? Because I tuned in found out that the show was being run on more or less the same concept as the famous TV series 'APPRENTICE' by a certain MR. Donald Trump.

Do you remember 'The Apprentice Martha Stewart' Show? I hated it! Why, I thought that Martha Stewart was not original enough. It is the same kind of thinking I had for Inspire Africa. I thought Martha Stewart more or less chewed Donal Trump's Idea, and regurgitated it coming out a cheap copy! Yet if you had asked me what I had to show of myself with that hatred of mine...you would find nothing tangible...talk is cheap I tell you!

The first time I heard of Inspire Africa, I brushed it aside in un-adulterated scoff! Never mind that the CEO Inspire Africa was one of my Cell Members at church for more than a year. The format, the tasks, and even sometimes the speeches were more or less the same format as the 'Apprentice'. But boy was I wrong! I should have titled this post, 'Swallowing my Pride'.

Here is the reason why. As long as something is RELEVANT to your heart, it resonates with your passion, it MEANS SOMETHING to you, you can copy as many times as you want! I have done the same! You think all these things I talk about on Life Signatures are original with me? Far from it! The quotes, the stories, the statistics and so on are not all original with me. But guess what? I am passionate about these stuff. It means a whole lot to me writing about Life Signatures. It is part and parcel of me. When I started writing, much of my information was the hated 'regurgitated'. Most of it was stuff I had read and it resonated with my heart's desire and passion. But guess what? As time goes by, I have developed my own style of writing. I write from my gut about Life Signatures. As I went through my earlier posts, I realized the immaturity, the inclusion of untested concepts, the leaning more on stuff that was not mine. Brothers and sisters, that was OK. Without that copying, I would probably not be here today. Most people give up because they 'see their ideas in the streets'. Listen, as long as it burns or flickers within your heart, GO FOR IT!

You should note that even in that state of 'copying', several people were blessed. Let me say this: However copied and regurgitated your message seems, believe me, it has a place in this world! It still is relevant to this world. I encourage you to 'get help' with whatever it is that is relevant to you. This kind of copying borders on modelling things that have worked. It helps us improve on what we see being already done, yet still feels thoroughly important to our hearts.

A disclaimer here though: In an earlier post, we strongly went against doing things ritualistically. Just because somebody else did it, we TRY it out too. Our hope is normally that we will meet with the same success that they got with what ritual they applied. The focus in such a folly is on the RITUAL rather than the heart. That is far from what we are advocating for in this post. I am talking of following the flicker in your heart, only to realize that somebody somewhere is doing more or less of what it is you are doing or what you want to do. Do not be discouraged because you see it in the street. Be encouraged though just that it is in your heart, in your reins of passion.

Let nobody discourage you by calling you a copy cat! My friend, as long as you are passionate about it, go for it. You will be happy to know that Inspire Africa season one is through, and the winner was a young Rwandese Entrepreneur who won USD 50,000 to help expand her business Idea. Did the CEO Inspire Africa Copy Donald Trump? Is that question even relevant to Clarisse the winner? Nelson Tugume's vision is to raise up Millionaires in Africa through entrepreneurship, and totally annihilate poverty. He copied, he did not copy...at this point in time, It does not really matter. Does it?

You will also be interested to also know that Graham Power was the chief guest at the grand finale held in Kigali on Friday the 30th of March 2012 . He has a vision called the Global Day of Prayer...a vision that resonates powerfully in my heart. Why Am I mentioning him? Well, I was able to meet him at a prayer show that I co-host on 104.1 Power FM weekdays from 5:00 a.m. Guess what? It is because Nelson Tugume 'copied' Donald Trump! Beat that!

By all means, whether you are copying, modelling or whatever, stay put with what is relevant and resonates with your heart's desire and passion. Don't reinvent the wheel, but by all means use it! Have a wonderful Easter wont you?